Eating for health & testing my taste buds one bite at a time…

Squash & Lentil Vegetarian Chili

Cold, wintery days are typically the perfect time for chili! When your mood is sour, your toes are chilled, and the weather is gloomy and dull, the perfect treatment for my diagnosed “winter blues” is making something warm, comforting, and yummy! Here is my recipe for my squash and lentil vegetarian chili (non-vegetarians, you won’t even miss the meat!)

What you will need:

4 cups vegetable broth

2 cups water

1 cup lentils

2 cups diced squash

3 medium sized tomatoes, diced (keep all the liquid!)

1 can of black beans, rinsed (removes excess salt!)

1 can of pinto beans, rinsed

dried oregano, dried basil, black pepper, garlic powder, paprika

1 cup frozen sweet corn

Directions:

Add 4 cups of vegetable broth to a large pot. Bring to a boil.

Rinse off your lentils and dice your squash, skin can be left on! Add the rinsed lentils and squash to the boiling vegetable broth.

Let simmer for about 10 minutes, then add the 2 cups of water, and all of your spices. I don’t give measurements for the spices, because I just add what sounds good to me. You can be generous with the basil and paprika. Dried oregano is very flavorful and potent, so be careful how much you add of this unless you REALLY like the flavor of oregano. Same goes with the garlic powder.

After about 20 minutes, add the diced tomato, juices and all.

Add the remainder of your ingredients, the beans and corn. Turn down your heat to low or medium-low (it should not have an intense bubble), put a lid on and let simmer for about 30 minutes. Stir occasionally.

Taste your chili to see if it needs any further herbs or spices. If not, turn off the heat and make yourself a bowl! Enjoy!